The Leica 50 Summilux Swag

Ah, the good old Leica hype. Is it real, or just another marketing tactic? I have to tell you first off, I wasn’t a believer. There are a bunch of tests online, many samples. Some good, some out of this world. I couldn’t believe that a near half-century year old design can render quality better than most lenses manufactured today. So I opened up eBay, found a Summi for $600 and bought it.

So off the bat, most of the images here are shot by the 50 Summi. There are a handful taken with the Nikkor 135/3.5 AI MF (Taken by Paul Elliott) and the few stroby shots at the near end are taken with the Sigma 85/1.4. But in all reality, the difference in “character” quality is there. Paired with my Sony a7r2 the images are nothing short of spectacular. I was really on the fence of getting the ASPH version, as that version is updated with a new coating for increased sharpness and better performance, but I can tell you that the pre-ASPH version holds its ground very well. To be honest, the microcontrast is so good that there really is no need for the additional sharpness at this moment. Maybe sometime in the future when I have 2g’s to blow.

Cons: Sure there’s some CA, some vignetting, and the focus throw is a bit too far for my personal taste. But when you are capturing an image with a mood, and when the lighting hits just right, all those issues go out the window.